The Eating Plan: Phase Two—Final Cut Phase

Once you have built all the muscle you desire to have, you will find that you have a little extra fat around the middle. Remember this is to be expected and that you can’t gain all the muscle you want without this happening. So you will change your program up to maintain your muscle and lose the extra fat. Adding three 30 minute cardio sessions (running, biking, elliptical trainer, etc) per week is permissible at this stage.

You will need to slightly increase your fat intake to 20% of your total calories and decrease your carb intake to 40% of your total calories, while decreasing your total calorie count by 500 calories per day (that extra pound per week you were gaining). Use the same foods, just a slightly smaller serving of carbs and a little splash of olive oil or butter here or there.

Track your food intake for a couple of weeks again, until you get the new food servings down pat. This will be the diet that will help you maintain your new physique. If you find yourself losing too much weight (you should just be shifting it by losing a little fat and gaining a little muscle), you should add some calories back in until your weight remains steady and your fat level is where you would like it to be.